Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Mediterranean Diet May Prevent Mental Decline

Eating a Mediterranean diet appears to lower risk for mental decline, and may help prevent Alzheimer’s in people with existing memory problems, new research suggests.

The finding, published today in The Archives of Neurology, tracked the eating habits of 1,393 people with no cognitive problems and 482 patients with mild cognitive impairment, a preliminary state of mental decline that can sometimes signal the onset of Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. The patients were then grouped based on whether they were low, moderate or consistent followers of a Mediterranean diet. People were considered to be strong adherents to a Mediterranean-style diet if they regularly ate large amounts of fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes and monounsaturated fats like olive oil, while at the same time consuming moderate amounts of alcohol and only small quantities of meat and dairy products.

After nearly five years of follow up, about 275 people in the healthy group developed mild cognitive impairment. People who closely adhered to a Mediterranean diet had a 28 percent lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, compared to those whose eating habits were the least like a Mediterranean diet. Moderate followers of a Mediterranean diet showed a trend toward a 17 percent lower risk than the lowest-scoring group, although that finding wasn’t statistically significant.

A Mediterranean diet also appeared to slow decline in those already diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. Among the 482 men and women with mild cognitive impairment at the beginning of the study, 106 developed Alzheimer’s disease about four years later. But among those who strictly adhered to the Mediterranean diet, risk of Alzheimer’s was 48 percent lower, while risk was 45 percent lower among those who ate a moderate version of the diet.

It’s not clear from the study how long the participants had been following a Mediterranean eating plan. However, the researchers said that older people tend to be fairly set in their ways and stick to eating patterns that have been established years earlier, so it’s likely the habits were established at least in middle age. The average age of study participants was 77.

Because the study was observational and not a controlled clinical trial, the association of better brain aging with the consumption of a Mediterranean diet isn’t definitive and could be explained by other factors. However, researchers note that a Mediterranean diet has already been shown to be good for the heart, and there is no risk in improving eating habits in the hope of improving brain health as well.

“We know it’s a healthy diet for other reasons,’’ said lead author Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, assistant professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center. “It makes sense for people to eat in a healthy way as soon as they can and for the longest they possibly can.’’

This seems like a pretty good nutritional study, since it was prospective, even though observational. Being on a Medit diet was associated with better outcomes, and many biases inherent in a retrospective study were not there.

The more difficult question to answer is if someone who changed to the Medit diet late in life would get any benefit from such a change.

We all long to feel and look good and one of the most beneficial ways to reach this goal is by choosing the right kind of Mediterranean diets. Begin thinking of food as a fuel to empower and enhance your performance, a route to feeling and looking good too, soon you’ll see and feel how important it is. Change is good at any age!//cybermedicinestore.com/?p=112

As a researchers, I’m wondering why they don’t to their observational study of mental decline in a country in the Mediterranean where everyone eats the Mediterranean diet? Or study certain ethnic groups in the US who have consistently eaten the Mediterranean diet across generations? Do these ethnic groups have lower incidence of cognitive decline? Do they live longer?

Man, if only it was easy in some part of the US to keep fresh fruits and vegetables on hand at any time. Truth be told, it’s often cheaper to get large hunks of meat, portion them, freeze them, and thaw when necessary. Fresh fruits and veggies just don’t keep as long, and not all can be frozen. One’s diet tends to consist mostly of meat and the few veggies/grains that can last for a long time in such a situation. It minimizes the trips to the store for those of us who love eating and cook for ourselves (and avoid junkfood), but don’t live within walking distance of a market.

Truth be told, a lot of the reason why I think a lot of people don’t eat a Mediterranean diet is because we’re just not all in a Mediterranean climate and the prices of various foods reflects that. Regardless, I’ll be very happy when the snow melts up here in Boston and I can replant my spring/summer garden, as my vegetable intake spikes sharply when I can reach out and get them fresh, whenever I want, from my limited little green space…

Can you give the title of a book or two you would recommend where the specifics of this diet can be found? Also, many Italian recipes use a fair amount of cheese (i.e. dairy) so what’s the story on that? Thanks for a really useful blog.

FROM TPP — Cheese and yogurt are certainly part of Mediterranean Cuisine, but they are a small part. I don’t think you should think of the type of recipes you see in Italian cookbooks as being a Mediterranean diet. The diet consists of a wide range of foods, and much of what you might read in a cookbook reflects American preferences for cheese-filled Italian dishes. Start with the Oldways website, which gives great information on Med diets — here’s the website. I can’t recommend a particular cookbook but know that a few popular books include “Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too,” “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” and a book that just landed on my desk “Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health.”

“if they regularly ate large amounts of fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes and monounsaturated fats like olive oil, while at the same time consuming moderate amounts of alcohol and only small quantities of meat and dairy products.”

It doesn’t take a fool to realize that this is a very healthy diet. Anyone who eats mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes, good fats, and fish, and alcohol in moderation is going to be eating one of the healthiest diets out there.

To reply number 4: I couldn’t agree more. Except for the Golden Age of Greece, Judeo-Christian theology, Roman engineering and law, the Renaissance, Michaelangelo, DaVinci, and so on, not much out of the Mediterranean.

Truth is, most authentic cultural cuisines are full of nutritional benefits. Unfortuantely, in the U.S., we have gotten lost in a sea of processed/convenience foods and have no identity or connection with our food anymore. The book, “Serving Fire” talks about this loss of connection. It’s a wonderful read.

These kinds of comparisons seem, to me, to always generalized the fat/oil as merely unsaturated. The Med diet is high in omega-9 (olive oil), US diets are high, extra-ordinarily high, in omega-3 (vegetable oil). The type, quality and quantity of fats have a direct, DIRECT, impact on brain function. Will someone please, please, please do a updated study on that.

To Ms. Pope: See Timothy S. Miller on Byzantine hospitals, specifically the 12th c. Pantokrator Hospital, or the five volume collection of medieval Greek monastic constitutions. Cheese and milk are daily parts of the diet for the infirm and a recurring part of the monastic diet. As someone who frequently travels to Greece and Turkey, I can vouch for milk and cheese as a daily part of the diet much of the year, usually on the order of one serving a day of each. Of course, most of these folks still walk around town and up to their apartments and lift heavy things daily too. The French diet suggests that moderation and variety are just as crucial as the mix of a diet.

Lindsey:
It was a tongue-in-cheeky statement. Obviously, it has a healthy portion of truth to it or you wouldn’t have reacted so heatedly. What if I were to make the same statement about France? Or the East Coast of the US?

Or was your reaction just PC mumbo-jumbo? Would you have reacted so if my comment was about the Southern US?

Blah blah blah. Certainly, From Cadiz to Damascus the Med was once a great.
And then what happened?

My greatgrandmother, my grandmother, and my mother all have used olive oil in their cooking. Olive oil; never other. Being from Spain, I remember my childhood as a happy one where people got together around the table and ate…what?

I live in a Mediterranean country, and I have to remark about the idea that meat is not a major part of the diet. Meat is present in a great many traditional dishes, so it is wrong to assume that it is not consumed with nearly the same frequency as in the US. The main difference is the way in which meat is used. Instead of having a steak or a separate portion of meat in a typical meal, smaller amounts of meat are used to give flavor to dishes that are made with rice, potatoes or legumes. In addition to the cultural difference in the way meat is used, I think it is more of an economic one, as many people can’t afford to eat so much meat.
Also, I was amazed at the amounts of olive oil that they use and eat here, my “healthy” instincts for using only a little oil to cook “low fat” meals were totally wrong!

My husband (75) & I (70) have been on the Mediterranean Diet for 10 years (exc. when travelling or visiting friends/relatives–it’s hard to make them understand it). We now live in Boise ID, not a mecca for lovers of fresh fruits & vegetables (or fresh fish), but we manage. We buy our grains (& org. peanut butter) at the Boise Co-op, we grow enuf tomatoes & some other vegetables in raised beds to get us at least partway thru the winter, & we freeze various fruits when they’re on sale in the summer. Given the high price of even frozen fish, we make use of canned tuna, sardines, & salmon. I also use TSP (soy protein) in many dishes, incl. scrambled eggs. My husband takes only one medication, an eye drop. I must take a few more, incl. a statin & a blood pressure drug. Nevertheless. I feel our diet was a factor in my coming thru surgery & two chemotherapy regimens (for two different types of cancer) in good shape. Maybe if I’d eaten like this ALL my life I wdn’t have gotten cancer!

Are we to infer that there are relatively no cases of Alzheimer’s in the Mediterranean? I highly doubt it. These spurious “studies” that the NYT loves to publish often elicit a case of the giggles from me. It’s comic relief, at times.

Jim is so correct about the importance of dairy products in the diets of Greeks and Turks–as well as Italians. I visited many consumers in their homes in these countries. I talked to them for a whole day about what they cooked and ate, and what their family members cooked and ate for days before the interview. I also went through their cupboards and fridge and documented their food items, watched them cook for the day, and ate with them.

Cheese and cultured dairy beverages are really at the core of everyday eating, to the extent that people have learned to rely upon them, in lieu of a whole lot of daily home-cooking (sad, but true, that they cook less than we’d like to believe), to satisfy their desire for delicious food.

And P.S. I forgot to include the French, who ate cheese at least 50% of their evening meals (their “dessert” with fruit), and who also consumed a lot of very delicious full fat yogurt (sometimes for “dessert,” and sometimes at other times of day). I still remember the ecstasy of everyday French yogurt, which I had a problem passing up…..

Aaron(#5) While you’re waiting for vegetables from your garden, I’d like to suggest a healthy, inexpensive Mediterranean meal made primarily from ingredients that can be kept on hand. Whole wheat pasta with spaghetti sauce from a jar. You can add sauteed mushrooms, onions, or peppers or frozen spinach, i you like, or have a salad with oilive oil and Balsamic vinegar with it.

< <>I’m wondering why they don’t to their observational study of mental decline in a country in the Mediterranean where everyone eats the Mediterranean diet? >>>

As a child of Italian immigrants who has routinely spent time in Italy w/ her Italian cousins & friends , I can tell you that there is a great difference between what Americans think is standard Italian fare (let’s call this – italian -american food) and the food eaten in a typical Italian family in Italy.

The amount of cheese eaten in Italy is a great deal less than in Italian American recies; for example a dish like a cheese lasagna in Italy would be eaten on a special holiday and the amount of cheese would be half of what you might find in a cookbook published for Americans. Daily meals consisted of a salad, a small amt of pasta cooked al dente w/ fresh cooked sauce w/ little grated cheese, a veggie dish, along w/ either fish or a very small amt of meat.

When cheese is eaten at my cousin’s table, I have never seen them eat more than 2 ozs and it is eaten w/ fruit . And the cheese is never the processed junk that is sold in America. And my cousins do a great deal of daily walking.

As for the comment about no studies coming out of the Mediterranean, it is not true. There are a good number of studies, please go to pub.med (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ ) to see the studies.